Recent content by Dave Cluck

Being a newb to all of this I always freak out a bit when I see temperatures rise quickly early on in the cook. Don't worry, it's normal.

I've done beef back ribs once and the results weren't great. One aspect that I had issues with was the membrane. It was a tad difficult to get started, but once I did, they'd peel off more or less just like pork back ribs. However, there seemed to be a few layers of the membrane and every slab...

I'm thinking that it was the temperature that I cooked it at (250ish at the grate/275ish at the lid) combined with the 10 degree overshoot from my intended target internal temperature of 190. Had I stayed at 225ish at the grate and still overshot as I did, I'm thinking there might have been less...

The lack of moisture inhibiting carryover makes sense to me. The past two briskets I've done (including todays) I've shot for a higher grate temperature than previously (245 to 250) to see if I could get good bark formation. I haven't found any sugar based rubs that I've been wild about on...

Actually this one turned out to be rather dry in the flat area not covered by the point. There never was any carryover rise in temperature even though I kept it insulated in the cooler as I always do. It steadily dropped over the course of two hours until I sliced/chopped it. There was some...

I started another brisket last night and just before putting it on I thought I'd go ahead and insert the ET-73 meat probe. As it turns out the probe wasn't placed properly, whether due to jostling around as I transfered the meat onto the grate or my ineptitude. The alarm went off at 189 and I...

The whole fat side down/up debate is eternal. There used to be a television commercial here in (north?) Texas for a bank (think it was Frost Bank..) that had various employees stating their heartfelt opinions on the matter. People here love to argue about their Q as I'm sure they do in other...

Mords is right. For every cut of meat there's as many variations on prep, rubs, marinades, saucing, etc. as there are people who barbeque. If you're looking for suggestions specifically on how to prep a cut (and haven't found it already), the site here has some great info for a lot of the common...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Konrad Haskins: Lots of winning Q and world famous classic Q is cooked a whole lot hotter. For a good read try "Legends of Texas BBQ" it is full of gold nuggets of info. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I just got that...

As in McKinney, TX, just north of Dallas? ~Dave

There's typically a decent amount of the fat cap left. The fat is easy to scrape or slice off after having removed the point and prior to slicing the flat. ~Dave

Sounds like what you had was a brisket flat. It's been trimmed for fat and the point is removed. If you buy a brisket for smoking then you'll need to ask for a whole, untrimmed brisket that hasn't had the fat cap trimmed and still has the point attached. These will often come in a cryopack, not...

Thanks for posting this recipie, Dean. Went over great with the wife and kiddo. The only thing I deviated on was the use of stock instead of broth and it turned out great. NEver had to add any water - cooked it in one of our clay cookers. Went splendidly with grass fed NY strips, fresh corn and...

If you're talking about a polder-like probe then use a wine bottle cork for securing it to the grate, Jim. Cut one end of the cork so that it fits snugly between two rails on the grate and drill a small hole that will allow you to run your probe through it. Mines lasted a dozen or so cooks...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jim Minion: I'll bet your your own worst critic. Jim <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You been talking to my wife Jim? Being relatively new at all of this I wasn't exactly what sure I knew what the difference was on...